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Politicians have access to inventory of Canadian art

It’s one of the lesser-known perks of political life: access to Canadian art, and the Government House Leader is a chief proponent.

John Baird during a tour of the Art Bank in Ottawa. (PAWEL DWULIT / FOR THE TORONTO STAR)

By Susan DelacourtOttawa Bureau

Thu., Dec. 23, 2010

OTTAWA—Politics aren’t pretty. Just ask Government House Leader John Baird, “minister of everything” in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.

Or better yet, just watch Baird on any given day in the House of Commons, attacking his questioners and aggressively waving the Conservative flag.

But just because politics can be unattractive, that doesn’t mean the decor has to match.

Baird is actually one of the most enthusiastic proponents of Canadian art in ministerial offices, along with two other Harper cabinet ministers who also served in the Mike Harris government in Ontario — Industry Minister Tony Clement and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

These ministers have taken some of the best advantage of one of the lesser-known and least expensive perks of public office in Ottawa — access to a huge treasure trove of Canadian art, available for display in the ministerial enclaves.

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Some pieces come from the National Gallery; others come from the Art Bank of the Canada Council for the Arts — a 12,000-piece inventory of Canadian paintings, sculpture and other creations that marks its 40th year of existence in 2011.

Those four decades have included some rocky points with politicians, especially lately. The Art Bank was nearly closed down for good by the federal Liberal government in the deficit-cutting 1990s and its paid-rental agreements were halved by Harper’s government in more recent years. An Art Bank-loaned painting by Jean-Paul Riopelle was removed from Harper’s official residence as well, for unspecified reasons.

Baird, however, also appears to be the unofficial minister for Canadian art advocacy in Harper’s government and agreed, on a quiet, pre-Christmas day in Ottawa, to go with the Star on a tour of the Art Bank, located in a cavernous but indistinct building on St. Laurent Blvd. in the capital, far from Parliament Hill.

“I feel like a kid in a candy store,” Baird said as Art Bank director Victoria Henry led the tour through the warehouse of holdings, inviting her visitors to pull out the big racks in the shelves, holding famous and not-so-famous Canadian art.

This is indeed a rare treat. Apart from occasional school trips, the public isn’t allowed into the Art Bank for tours and only businesses and the government can sign rental agreements, obtaining signature Canadian works for rates ranging from $120 to $3,600 a year.

On this particular visit, Baird falls in love with a multicoloured abstract by Claude Tousignant, painted in 1954 by the Quebec artist. Baird stands back, holds up his BlackBerry and snaps a picture of the painting, then immediately makes it the background wallpaper on his device. His BlackBerry is crammed with photos of art that he’s seen and admired.

His office, just beside the foyer outside the House of Commons, is also a small art gallery. An A.Y. Jackson, on loan from the National Gallery, hangs beside his desk, its blue-green greys depicting Georgian Bay, site of a Baird family cottage. Two small paintings by Baird’s late grandmother, Reba Baird, also adorn the walls. They are snowy village scenes, done in the style of Krieghoff, and remarkably good for a hobby painter.

Baird says he learned of the art perk while working on Parliament Hill as a former aide to minister Perrin Beatty, who was responsible for the Canada Council as communications and culture minister in Brian Mulroney’s government. Baird knew about the Art Bank as well as the deal that allows ministers to take a painting on loan from the gallery. So as soon as Baird was sworn in as a minister — “as soon as I took my hand off that Bible,” he jokes — he went on the prowl for his art.

Henry says it’s been interesting to watch ministers coming to the Art Bank to choose the pieces for their office. It’s not unusual, she says, for members of the cabinet to swoon over one piece of art, but walk out with something more conservative.

“You find out which ones have a sense of humour,” she says.

One minister (a Liberal) was delighted with a Joanne Tod painting, titled “Kiss This Goodbye.” It’s a realistic scene of a forest glade, all in deep-green and brown hues. But emblazoned across the middle of the painting are purple words: “We’re F----d.” The minister decided, upon reflection, that this wasn’t exactly the right message for someone involved in the serious business of running a country.

Guns and nudes are also not popular items within the Art Bank, says Henry. “No one wants them,” she says.

Many ministers let their staff winnow down the choices for them. That was the case with Clement, whose chief of staff presented him with photos of some of the art available at the Art Bank. In his industry minister’s office, Clement has a large, cloudy grey painting showing a battlefield ceremony in the fog. It’s a piece by artist Herb Ariss, called “King George and General Allenby at Thiepval Battlefield Gravesite.”

Clement stands up close to the painting, trying to describe why this particular one spoke to him.

“This one struck me for a number of reasons. It just was reminiscent of another era, an age of gallantry and chivalry. Here’s the king and the general beside these crosses, paying heed and paying respect,” Clement said. “Just the style of the painting. It’s very subtle. It’s not stark in a way.”

Baird and Clement are serious buyers of art as well. Haida art is one of Baird’s passions and he often brings home pieces he’s sighted on his ministerial travels. Clement is in the midst of a total redesign of his Muskoka home, so he and his wife are buying up contemporary art pieces to match the new surroundings. Some of the old pieces from the house may end up in Clement’s office, alongside scenes that remind him of Muskoka: a painting of trees and a giant fishing-lure sculpture, for instance.

The director of the art bank, meanwhile, would be happy to see more members of the federal cabinet wandering through the inventory, as Baird did.

As the Government House Leader prepares to leave, Henry reminds him that some Inuit sculptures, in hockey-themed poses, would be a great addition to 24 Sussex Drive. “Tell the Prime Minister about them,” she says.

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